Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Adeel Hail Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Hitchcoc Because I could never accept Natalie Wood as Gypsie Rose Lee, I couldn't get into this musical. I find the songs sort of pedestrian. I know that Mama was a reality in her life and that she had to continually compete with her little sister, but I never really thought that the story was terribly interesting. Stage mothers have been the topic of so many plays and movies and this didn't offer me anything new. I think Rosalind Russell was fine as the mother. She did plenty of shouting and had genuine edginess in her role. She could also express hurt. Natalie is so beautiful, so striking. From what I've seen of film of Gypsie Rose Lee, she wasn't the dark beauty that Wood was. This is one of those movies that I , but it doesn't do all that much for me.

SeamusMacDuff ...then I guess you'll like the movie. Or maybe not.I found this film to be overlong, stagy, clunky, and not particularly interesting. That the plot can be summarized on Wikipedia in one paragraph says something.Russell is an unlikeable diva who dominates the film. Meanwhile the title character is relegated to a minor role until near the end. Wood is kept intentionally homely throughout until she can emerge as "Gypsy". Most of the songs are forgettable, particularly as Russell was dubbed and Wood should have been as in West Side Story. She's not a particularly good dancer and her "stripping" is a joke. (Men going wild about a bare shoulder?)

Dalbert Pringle In my opinion, this 1962 film, based upon the 1957 book "Gypsy: A Memoir" written by Gypsy Rose Lee, herself, would have faired so much better had it been presented as a straight drama. I certainly found that both the musical numbers and the frequent lapses into comedy really weakened the overall punch that this film undoubtedly could've produced had these unnecessary elements not dominated a good part of the story.I also thought that Rosalind Russell's character as Rose Hovick, the ultimate, overbearing stage-mother-from-hell (who tyrannized the entire story) was given way-way too much attention and screen-time for my liking.From start to finish Russell's willful, one-note character literally chewed-up every bit of scenery with her loud, controlling and bossy histrionics. I found that this decidedly annoying character lost the novelty of her appeal within the first 30 minutes of the story.I also found that "Gypsy's" 143-minute running time to be almost unendurable to sit through. If a good 30 minutes had been carefully edited from this production I think that it would've been so much easier to enjoy.This movie just went on and on and on. (Ho-hum!) And its story just seemed to be going around and around in a vicious circle that ended up, in the long run, going absolutely nowhere at all.Another serious problem with "Gypsy" was the miscasting of Natalie Wood as the title character. From my point of view, Wood (though undeniably attractive) just didn't seem to possess the crucial dramatic resources to draw upon for this very demanding part. Wood simply played her part sweet & simple and this inevitably reduced her "Gypsy" to being nothing but an unambitious square - In other words, she was an accidental success.Yes. I fully understand that this film was clearly a product of early-1960's movie-making and that strict censorship was still in full swing back then - But, with that said, I really thought that it was completely laughable that Gypsy Rose Lee's meteoric rise to becoming a very hot burlesque queen was depicted as though just a sly wink, a sexy wiggle, and the revealing of a naked shoulder (and nothing else) was all that was required of her to achieve this special status of "striptease" royalty.Even though "Gypsy" was obviously a big-budget production that might have worked its intended magic as a stage play, on screen it was a truly disappointing let-down that certainly left a whole helluva lot to be desired.All-in-all - I would never recommend this film to anyone.

Bob Pr. This is an unusual musical film, loosely based on (not directly copied from) the Broadway musical of the same name, using the music by Sondheim & Stein. (Among its better known songs are: "Everything's Coming Up Roses," "Let Me Entertain You"). The Broadway play was loosely based on Gypsy Rose Lee's fairy tale version of growing up under the strong hand of her mother (Rose Hovick) along with her younger sister, June Havoc, who earlier escaped Momma Rose's clutches and much later became a stage, movie, & TV star.Rosalind Russell's performance (Momma Rose) has often been criticized as being inferior to Ethel Merman's although Russell (IMO) delivers a very strong performance. Much of the difference is that in the stage version, most of Momma Rose's dark side is not shown; in Russell's version, one sees a slightly more realistic version of Momma Rose.Russell's Momma Rose increasingly becomes (IMO) an unlikeable character rather than one brassy, funny, and larger than life. This is a bit closer to the real Momma Rose (read Noralee Frankel's "Stripping Gypsy" for an excellent biography). Momma was an extremely demanding woman, more than a bit psychopathic, who not only pressed both of her daughters to earn money for her but also drove them emotionally away. Karl Malden as Momma Rose's put-upon lover-in-waiting stands in for the many men Momma Rose actually conned and he brings enough sympathy to his role that it adds more fuel to disliking the Momma Rose that Russell brings to life. Natalie Wood is a very believable Gypsy.An interesting film, both for its presentations of family relationships and for an era. If the film was less detailed, shorter, possibly its emotional impact would have been closer to that of the stage version. As it is, Momma's selfishness, her determination to get whatever she wanted at any cost, becomes dominant and one is thankful her two daughters escaped.The difference between the versions of Momma Rose presented in this film and that of the stage musical stimulated me to read Frankel's excellent biography ("Stripping Gypsy"), Preminger's (Gypsy's son) "Gypsy & Me" AKA "My G-String Mother," plus June Havoc's "Early Havoc" & "More Havoc." (Plus Abbot's less helpful biography of Gypsy: "American Rose.")Fascinating family to explore! I also read Gypsy's fantasy, "Gypsy, a Memoir," the foundation on which the musical was built. It's interesting storytelling but a fairy tale. Momma Rose died a few years before "Gypsy," her book, was published. On her death bed, Momma Rose died putting a curse on Gypsy as Gypsy was trying to comfort her. But a great story is more acceptable than the truth and, besides, Gypsy had learned quite well from her mother the marketable advantage of spinning interesting stories!